Issue 3 – Discrimination against minoritized communities 35. Several international conventions prohibit discrimination on the ground of national or ethnic origin.54 There should be no discrimination in birth registration55 and States must ensure that the right to nationality is secured without discrimination.56 36. As mentioned above, statelessness in Montenegro mostly affects Roma and Egyptian communities. Deep rooted antigypsyism continues to be one of the main hurdles to reducing statelessness among these communities. 57 Montenegro has received several recommendations to ensure that Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities do not face a risk of statelessness, in particular through the establishment of a simplified and accessible procedure for birth registration. 37. Positively, in 2021 Montenegro adopted a Strategy for Social Inclusion of Roma and Egyptians 2021-202558 which includes an operational objective to “improve the position of Roma and Egyptian communities by resolving the issue of civil status and personal ownership documents”. It also adopted a Strategy on Migration and Reintegration of Returnees in Montenegro 2021-2025 59 which includes two relevant objectives to “resolve the legal status” of internally displaced persons (IDPs), people who are not registered, and of people at risk of statelessness. The accompanying Action Plan to these strategies includes an action point to tackle antigypsyism, a first step towards tackling discrimination of Roma and Egyptian communities in the country, and actions to address civil registration and statelessness issues. 60 As follow-up from the 2019 Poznan Declaration on Roma integration in the EU Enlargement Process, Montenegro joined other Western Balkan countries in committing to ensuring universal civil registration and ending Roma statelessness and has continue to make commitments in this regard.61 38. It is hoped that Montenegro continues its efforts to tackle discrimination and antigypsyism, which are still seen to impact particular populations and to increase the risk of statelessness. The complex bureaucratic barriers to birth registration described under Issue 2 above, when combined with antigypsyism and marginalisation, have a disproportionate impact on Roma and Egyptian communities in Montenegro, as evidenced by lower overall birth registration rates among these populations. Although the law specifies that births can be registered even if the identity of parents is unknown 54 See e.g. Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 2(1); International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Articles 24 and 26; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 2(2); International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Article 1(1); International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, Article 7. 55 Convention on the Rights of the Child; UNHCR, Global Action Plan to End Statelessness 2014-24 (2014); European Parliament, Resolution on minimum standards for minorities in the EU (2018). 56 European Court of Human Rights, Genovese v. Malta (2011). 57 Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, European Network on statelessness and European Roma Rights Centre, Roma Belong. Statelessness, discrimination and marginalisation of Roma in the Western Balkans and Ukraine, October 2017, available at: https://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/attachments/resources/roma-belong.pdf. 58 Government of Montenegro, Ministry of Justice, Human and Minority Rights, Strategy for Social Inclusion of Roma and Egyptians 2021-2025 with Action Plan, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/6231d6414.html. 59 Government of Montenegro, Ministry of the Interior, Strategy on Migration and Reintegration of Returnees in Montenegro for the Period 2021-2025, with an Action Plan for 2021 and 2022, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/6231d49e4.html. 60 UNHCR, #IBelong Campaign Update, July – September 2021, 20 October 2021, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/616ff7a34.html. 61 RCC, Western Balkans Summit, Bosnia and Herzegovina Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees, Conclusions of the Second Ministerial Meeting on Roma Integration, 28 June 2021, available at: https://www.rcc.int/romaintegration2020/files/admin/docs/d4e8f57b0e812017fee6a94e8af1fefc.pdf. 10